Jenkintown officials unseal 48-year-old envelope containing JHS student essays

At 11:30am today, officials from Jenkintown 150, Jenkintown School District and the Jenkintown Library unsealed personal essays written by teens from Jenkintown High School’s Local History class in 1976.

The history class’s teacher, Dan Chittik, sealed the envelope containing the essays 48 years ago and gave it to the library for safe keeping until its intended opening in 2026.

With Chittik’s blessing, the unsealing was bumped ahead two years after the envelope containing the essays was unearthed by Ben Bergman as he was sifting through the library’s archives for memorabilia to use for the Jenkintown 150 website. 

Until today, no one outside of the essays’ authors knew what exactly was inside the envelope.

“We’re finding some interesting lines as we read through these essays,” Nina Meister, Jenkintown Library’s director, said. “Some of them have drug references and some interesting language. We’ll need permission before we release those. Some are sad, and a few are really trying to offer an opinion on what it’s like living in the 70s. They can be very personal.”


An essay excerpt:

Dear Person of the Future,

I am 16 years old and in the 11th grade. I don’t know when you will read this, but I am hoping that you will be able to glean something from this paper to help you with your studies. I have found through this course that although the people of a century ago didn’t have as much as we do, they did basically the same things in their leisure (sic) as we do, only in different methods.

Maybe in 100 years, you’ll be throwing things at a flying saucer. But whatever you do, it probably won’t be very different from the things we do. I know I will be very old or even dead by the time you read this and you will say that I am very different from you. But after you read this maybe you will say that we are the same.

The writer goes on to discuss his favorite authors, collections, travels, parties with his girlfriend, and mischief. He says his favorite pastime is “throwing snowballs at cars. When there isn’t any snow, I can and do find other things to throw at cars.”

Another essay mentions getting caught for underage drinking and being fined. “The girls in this school are not the greatest in the world, I’ll tell you man,” the student writes.

The video below features, from left to right, Tom Roller (Jenkintown High School principal), Marion Rosenbaum (local historian), Ben Bergman (Jenkintown 150th), Nina Meister (Jenkintown Library Director), and Dr. Jill Takacs (Jenkintown School District Superintendent):

Jenkintown 150 is inviting the following former JHS students to reach out regarding their essays:

Allan Rodzinski, Bill Devlin, Bob Clark, Bob Flacco, Daniel Hailey, Daniel P Temple, David Trout, Debbie Maslin, John Devlin, Kelli Dietrich, Laureen O’Niell, Lynn Goldberg, Marianne Tierney, Marshall Ney, Michael Roe, Pat Furlong, Ray Barbieri

Bergman’s archive dig found other antiquated gems as well: a map circa 1920, building plans, an old audio recording from a radio show celebrating Jenkintown, and the library’s very first board meeting minutes from 1803.

Jenkintown Borough’s first meeting’s board minutes, circa 1903

In related news, Jenkintown 150 launched its website on January 1. Check it out for more history, a lineup of events, and more. You can also check out Jenkintown 150’s Facebook page for updates.

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Photos: Jenkintown 150